Archive for April, 2017

County planning commissioners gave Chiquita Canyon Landfill a 30-year extension Wednesday, several hours after a public hearing.

The decision was made an hours-long meeting in which the Los Angeles County Planning Commission held a second public hearing on the issue. This time they held the meeting in downtown Los Angeles but live-streamed it for the public at the Stevenson Ranch Library.

At the end of the public hearing and after questions from commissioners to county staff, the commission approved Chiquita Canyon Landfill’s contract, authorizing them to operate for another 30 years.

John Musella, spokesperson for Chiquita, said the organization was pleased with the approval of the project.

Chiquita has valued working with community members in the past and hopes to reform a relationship with the community action committee in the future, he said.

“We hope that going forward, will be able to resume a cooperative relationship with that community group,” Musella said.

During the course of the hearing, community members were given two minutes each to speak, where 10 speakers in Stevenson Ranch and 15 in L.A. addressed the commissioners. Speakers were limited to those who did not speak at the first hearing on March 1.

CalArts partnered with Chiquita Canyon for their sixth annual Found Art Scholarship Program and is set to announce the recipients of more than $8,000 in scholarships at a gallery exhibition featuring student artist creations.

“This Found Art scholarship program with CalArts is a great way to artistically demonstrate the reuse of materials that have been discarded by society,” said Mike Dean of Chiquita Canyon. “Every year, we’re so impressed with the creativity expressed by students.”

Chiquita Canyon’s Found Art Scholarship Program was designed to demonstrate the unique artistic creativity of CalArts students, according to officials.

The competition, now in its sixth year, challenges students to create a piece of art utilizing items found items from Chiquita — students interested in entering the competition had the chance to visit the landfill to select items to use in their works.